Language, Social Structure, and Culture
Language, Social Structure, and Culture

Author:

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 902725351X

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Comparing Japanese and American interaction, Language, Social Structure, and Culture argues that language use is instrumental in the construction of social structure and culture. In order to ground the work in empirical evidence, verbal interaction in similar situations – Japanese and American cooking classes – is compared. Unlike other studies of verbal interaction, a genre analysis approach is used to examine regular patterns at three levels of language use: interaction, discourse, and grammar. Collectively, these patterns exhibit both similarities and differences across the classes in the two cultures, creating the unique event that has been institutionalized as a cooking class in each culture. In concluding, the author suggests that genre analysis is a useful approach for cross-cultural research in that it provides information about situation-specific language use, but also information about what aspects of linguistic structure are likely to become conventionalized across languages and cultures, across situations, and across time.

An Essay on Culture
An Essay on Culture

Author: Bennett M. Berger

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2024-07-26

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 0520377591

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The result of thirty-five years of thought and research on culture by one of the best and most literate writers in sociology, this wide-ranging review of the meaning and study of culture is Bennett Berger at his best. Drawing on his unsurpassed knowledge of the scholarly literature and on his wealth of personal experience, Berger reviews and synthesizes recent work in cultural sociology from a materialist perspective. An Essay on Culture culminates in a call for an empirical research program focused on the relation between symbolic choices and social locations, rather than on interpretive accounts of the meanings of texts or performances. Among his unusual insights are a defense of reductionism, sympathetic accounts of peer pressure and special interests, an attempt to restore some dignity to the word “ideology,” and a fresh perspective on conspiracy theory. Scholars and students of culture will find here stunning discussions and theoretical insights on ideological work, morality and culture, and on the relations between social structure and cultural structure. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1995.

Social Structure, Space and Possession in Tongan Culture and Language
Social Structure, Space and Possession in Tongan Culture and Language

Author: Svenja Völkel

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 9027202834

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This interdisciplinary study investigates the relationship between culture, language and cognition based on the aspects of social structure, space and possession in Tonga, Polynesia. Grounded on extensive field research, Volkel explores the subject from an anthropological as well as from a linguistic perspective. The book provides new insights into the language of respect, an honorific system which is deeply anchored in the societal hierarchy, spatial descriptions that are determined by socio-cultural and geocentric parameters, kinship terminology and possessive categories that perfectly express the system of social status inequalities among relatives. These examples impressively show that language is deeply anchored in its cultural context. Moreover, the linguistic structures reflect the underlying cognitive frame of its speakers. Just as several cultural practices (sitting order, access to land and gift exchange processes) the linguistic means are not only expressions of stratified social networks but also tools to maintain or negotiate the underlying socio-cultural system."

Self, Social Structure, and Beliefs
Self, Social Structure, and Beliefs

Author: Jeffrey C. Alexander

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2004-09-20

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9780520241374

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This is an exploration of the creative work done by leading sociologists who were inspired by the scholarship of Neil Smelser.

Structure, Culture, and History
Structure, Culture, and History

Author: Sing C. Chew

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9780847698370

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Preface p. vii Part I. Structural Analysis: Past, Present, and Future 1. History of Social Structural Analysis Charles Crothers p. 3 2. Social Structure: The Future of a Concept Douglas V. Porpora p. 43 Part II. Culture and Social Structure 3. How Are Structures Meaningful? Cultural Sociology and Theories of Structure Lyn Spillman p. 63 4. Agency, Structure, and Deritualization: A Comparative Investigation of Extreme Disruptions of Social Order J. David Knottnerus p. 85 5. Global Power, Hegemonic Decline, and Culture Narratives Albert J. Bergesen p. 107 6. Situating Hybridity: The Positional Logics of a Discourse Jonathan Friedman p. 125 Part III. History and Social Structure 7. A Structural Theory of the Five Thousand Year World System Barry K. Gills and Andre Gunder Frank p. 151 8. Evolutionary Pulsations in the World System George Modelski and William R. Thompson p. 177 9. Paradigms Bridged: Institutional Materialism and World-Systemic Evolution Christopher Chase-Dunn and Thomas D. Hall p. 197 10. Ecology in Command Sing C. Chew p. 217 11. Applications of Elementary Theory to Social Structures of Antiquity Brent Simpson and David Willer p. 231 Part IV. Micro and Macro Structures: Interactions and Organizations 12. Gender, Institutions, and Difference: The Continuing Importance of Social Structure in Understanding Gender Inequality in Organizations Amy S. Wharton p. 257 13. Social Structure and Social Exchange Joseph Whitmeyer and Karen S. Cook p. 271 14. Social Organizations across Space and Time: The Policy Process, Mesodomain Analysis, and Breadth of Perspective Peter M. Hall and Patrick J.W. McGinty p. 303 15. Acts, Persons, Positions, and Institutions: Legitimating Multiple Objects and Compliance with Authority Henry A. Walker and Larry Rogers and Morris Zelditch p. 323 Index p. 341 Contributor Affiliations p. 343.

Culture, Structure and Agency
Culture, Structure and Agency

Author: David Rubinstein

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780761919285

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This book addresses two key issues in sociological theory: the debate between structural and cultural approaches and the problem of agency. It does this through looking at the work of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim and the ideas of modern theorists like Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Giddens, and Talcott Parsons. The book examines economics, rational choice theory, network theory, ethnomethodology, and symbolic interactionism.

Sociology
Sociology

Author: Robert J. Brym

Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing Company

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 9781111837907

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"More than ever before, this book makes sociology relevant by applying sociological concepts and theories in a fun, hip way, using pop culture as the vehicle for relating to students. The new title, SOCIOLOGY: POP CULTURE TO SOCIAL STRUCTURE, underscores this approach by reflecting the book's stronger trio of themes, which 1) use pop culture to apply sociological concepts to everyday phenomena, 2) illustrate how technological change drives social change through examples that are familiar to students, and 3) engage students in thinking critically by asking them where they fit in to the larger context of social patterns in the world, and challenging them to apply sociological ideas when thinking about governmental or institutional policies. Streamlined by 15 percent in this edition, the text teaches students "how" to think sociologically, not just "what" to think, and emphasizes the importance of diversity and a global perspective. Movie reviews in the popular "Sociology at the Movies" boxes explore the sociological messages in recent movies such as The Social Network, Avatar, Milk, and many others. Up-to-date discussions of topics such as race, poverty, and religious practices are accompanied by exploration of contemporary issues related to our increasingly digital world, including examinations of how technological change shortens attention span, the Internet as an atomizing and a community-building force, and electronic surveillance and social control."--Pub.desc.